Social Media

It's not often we do news concerning gadgets, but there's been a few interesting social media bits of technology stories over the last few days. The terrestrial radio inspired by the web was one sort of Web 2.0 inspired bit of technology, but there are a number of social media related device companies that have come across my radar recently. One gadget maker in particular was brought to my attention by the name of Prime Sense. Israeli venture capital firm Canaan Digital Ventures recently just sank $20.4 million into a company called Prime Sense along with Gemini Israel Funds and Genesis Partners.

Prime Sense is an Israeli developer of interface gadget maker intent on changing the way that humans interact with machines. Presently, they only have one device profiled on their company website, but what really interested me in what they're doing is their future plans.

That's what interested Izhar Shay as well. Shay is a partner at Canaan Partners, and took some time to sit down with me and discuss what they're working on at Prime Sense on an episode of Mashable Conversations. He's now joining their board of directors there, and is very familiar (and excited) about the technology they're developing there.

Most of it seems to center around video technology, and gesture based interface. The way it was described to me was that their intention was to make interfacing with entertainment consoles and personal computers as seamless and natural as interfacing with other human beings (think Minority Report, without the goofy Nintendo Power Glove).

I've seen a number of attempts at gesture based interaction, though, and most of them fall flat. The problem, generally, is in the object recognition. To fix this, Prime Sense has done a lot of work in what is essentially compositing and green screen technology. During the development process, they've as a side-effect of their work created what Shay described as professional level green-screen technology that will be made available for consumer level prices.

This has the net effect of putting in the hands of independent video producers the technology that has generally been only available to folks with the budget for a $10,000 lighting set-up and a $5,000 Tri-Caster. I predict that Canaan and the other venture capitalists are going to make their investment back just off this product, should it perform to the level Shay described (which is even in sub-optimal lighting conditions, the system still performs flawlessly).

The bad news? The technology isn't available yet. Shay is convinced, based on the current development cycle that most of it should be ready by years end.

This is definitely one company to keep an eye on, and definitely one you want to hear more about.

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is a leading source for news, information and resources for the Connected Generation. Mashable reports on the importance of digital innovation and how it empowers and inspires people around the world. Mashable's record 42 million unique visitors worldwide and 21 million social media followers are one of the most influential and engaged online communities. Founded in 2005, Mashable is headquartered in New York City with an office in San Francisco.